Temptation
by Sonya Willow
Summary: Sophronia Wilton is one who has been called by God to handle the weapon known as Innocence. But when a certain Noah is interested in her, Sophronia might just allow herself to fall.
1. Chapter 1

Temptation

Introducing...

The redhead tossed and turned in her sleep, a thin sheen of cold sweat breaking out on her upper lip. In her head, however, she was not asleep. She wasn't even her normal age of sixteen. In her head she was eight years old again, clothed in black and kneeling by a freshly dug grave.

"Daddy..." The little girl whispered, crying. "Daddy, why did you have to die? I'm all alone now. Who's going to keep me safe from _her?"_

The dreaded _her_ was none other than Sophronia's stepmother, a cruel and heartless woman who often hurt little Sophie.

Then she heard a voice above her. It was rough, deep, belonging to a huge man with purple skin and a perpetual grin, and it was kind.

"Hello, little girl. Do you want your father back?"

Eight years into the future, the girl sat up with a gasp.

Her emerald eyes flew open and she looked around as though expecting the Stepmonster to come flying at her, but that would never happen again.

Sophie had seen to that, hadn't she?

She stood and stretched, the curiously red soles of her feet hidden by the slippers she wore. Each had a long slit down the foot.

This was once a warehouse, abandoned a decade ago after being ravaged by a fire.

Truly a tragedy.

She saw that the sun was just beginning to set, and a smile crossed her pale pink lips.

Her day was just beginning.

She pulled out of the nightgown quickly, replacing it with a dark blue dress. Black boots, also slit down the foot, replaced the ragged slippers.

She headed outside to the small well she had found the previous night and began to draw buckets, singing softly to herself.

"Oh there's sunshine, blessed sunshine, when the peaceful happy moments roll... When Jesus shows his smiling face, there is sunshine in my soul..."

She didn't allow her mind to focus on her past, instead looking forward to the future. Always forward.

A bucket full of water in each hand, she headed back to the warehouse, still singing.

"When I am king dilly dilly, you shall be my queen dilly dilly..."

She set the buckets down carelessly, a little water slopping out and onto the hem of the threadbare dress.

"Whoops, clumsy me." She murmured, and headed back out to gather firewood.

The redhead gathered an armful and walked in the building slowly, her green eyes wide and innocent. Then Sophie knelt in front of the two water buckets and stacked her firewood carefully, her tongue sticking out slightly.

A matchbook was produced seemingly out of thin air( A hidden pocket in the girl's dress). There was a little scuffling noise and a brief flicker of flame being transferred.

No sooner than she had the fire going, however, than what she had been expecting all along happen.

There was a loud ringing of gunfire, and at the same time a sound like two blades being unsheathed. When the purple flare faded the redhead was balancing on her hands, a violet colored bullet held in between what looked like two glowing green iceskates.

"Sorry." The redhead said, casting the bullet aside and landing on her feet again. "You need to be faster to catch me off guard."

The balloon type creature let out an inhuman snarl, firing off another volley. This time, one of the bullets grazed Sophronia's side.

Pentacles appeared all over her skin. In a moment, they faded just as quickly.

"I'm not an ordinary human." The girl growled, a smirk playing across her face. "You shouldn't have picked on me, little akuma."

The akuma snarled, attacking once more. She dodged easily, then leaped for a rafter. Before they knew what was happening, she swung from the rafter and kicked out for the akuma, the blades on her feet extending and slicing through the skin of the akuma.

The girl then fell on the floor rather ungracefully, skinning her forearm and yelping. She sat up dazedly and dusted her palms off, looking around.

"Now, maybe I can eat?" She asked nothing in particular, but a voice actually answered.

"I don't think so~" Came the dark chuckle, and then there was a violent explosion. It sent Sophronia flying out of the warehouse. She landed, sputtering, in the bottom of the well she had drawn from earlier.

"Oh God, no." She muttered along with a steady stream of cursing. She wouldn't be able to use her anti- akuma weapon in this cramped space. Holding onto the rope, she wondered how far down the well went. She hesitantly let go of the rope-

and nearly drowned herself. The water went right over the top of her head and she sank rapidly, the immense pressure surrounding her.

 _Little Sophie is drowning in the well!_ She mocked herself. _I won't die so ridiculously._

So she jetstreamed her feet and started moving her arms, cutting up through the water. It didn't help that she couldn't see a thing in this blasted darkness- maybe she should have changed from her nocturnal schedule after all.

She broke the water with a gasp and reached for the rope. When she looked up, however, there was the hideous machine-face of the akuma.

A volley of bullets rained down into the well, making Sophie dive under the water. Maybe she was immune to the virus in the bullets, but if one of them actually hit her she would probably be killed from the blood loss.

The hail of bullets finally stopped and hesitantly she allowed her head to pop back up above the water.

"There she is! A voice yelled, and Sophie winced. Far above in the sky, she saw a lantern light appear. A face of a girl appeared- Oriental looking with a worried expression.

"Kanda, she's been hit!" The girl called. Sophie looked down and flinched. The pentacles were slowly fading, but the spiked bullet was embedded in her shoulder.

A snort and a horribly sarcastic voice.

"Just great. Now we have to deal with a cripple."

The Asian girl shot a look over at the boy, then looked back down at Sophie.

"Miss, can you grab the rope with your good arm?"

The redhead sputtered, reached and grabbed the length of rope with her right hand, locked her left arm fast against her right side, and nodded. She saw blood dripping slowly out of her arm, and the sight of it made her sick. The rope began to ascend, and for the first time in her life Sophronia Wilton fainted.


	2. Two-The Black Order

The Black Order

When Sophronia woke up the first thing she smelled was the horrible scent of antiseptic. She slowly opened her eyes, then shut them hurriedly at the overly white room.

 _Did Parliament catch up to me?_

Lifting a hand to her head, she found a bandage wrapped around her skull and flinched.

 _Thats right. I nearly drowned last night._ She reminded herself, remembering how her head had sharply struck the wall of the well when she fell.

Everything hurt, everywhere. At least she needed to know whether Parliament had caught her or not, and if so, what they were going to do on her. Her father had said that they tested the people who were born like her, and that was the very last thing Sophie wanted.

"Oh, Hello!" A voice said kindly, looking down at her. "I see you're awake. Do you know your name?" He asked, pushing his glasses up on his head.

"Sophronia." She whispered, trying to sit up. "Its Sophronia Wilton. And are you-"

"I'm Chief Komui Lee." He interrupted her, taking a sip of coffee begninly. "Head of the science section."

Sophronia shuddered down to her toes, leaping out of bed. The blades of innocence sprung out of her feet, sensing her distress.

"Then its true! You _are_ from Parliament and now you're going to stick needles and IVs in me and run all kinds of horrible tests..."

Komui stared at her blankly for a moment before bursting into laughter.

"I'm not from Parliament." He said, still laughing. "I'm a scientist from the Black Order. The girl who rescued you three days ago? That was my little sister, Lenalee Lee.

"Then... you _won't_ run any terrible tests on me?"

With that reassurance, Sophie sat down and revoked her innocence.

"I'm sorry." She said sheepishly, pushing a tangled tuft of red locks back behind her ear. "I just grew up hearing about horrible tests that people performed on..."

"People like you?" Komui said lightly, watching as the redheaded girl nodded almost shyly.

"Well, we aren't the Government." Komui told her. "We're the Black Order. You'll find a lot of people here who are just like you."

"The Black Order?" Sophronia asked, confusedly.

"An organization dedicated to killing Akuma using Innocence." At the blank look on Sophronia's face, Komui explained further. "The anti-akuma weapons in your ankles."

This made a smile of understanding appear on Sophie's face as the last of her terror ebbed slowly away. She felt herself smile.

"So, you're one of the good guys? " She asked wirh a little smile.

"Thats right. Now, walk with me?"

Sophie obediently climbed out of bed, her green eyes taking everything in.

She was led to an elevator where they coasted down to a platform before stopping.

"Hevlasaka? Is this exorcist appeasing?"

Sophronia has the brief feeling of being probed and she did _not_ like it. She looked around, taking everything in, including the giant that appeared tp be scanning her.

"Synchronization rate: 85 percent."

"Welcome to the Order now, Sophie."


	3. Three- A White-haired Kid Nearly Dies

Three- A kid with white hair and a jerk with a ponytail

Over the next few days, Sophie shied away from making friends. She didn't know anyone there at the Order except for Komui, and she wasn't quite sure whether to like him or hate him.

One day she headed into the cafeteria for food and was greeted with a verbal explosion.

"Wow-ee! You must be the new girl! Sophie, wasn't it, sugar?" A guy with pinkish hair greeted her, not giving her time to respond. "Say, isn't she the cutest thing? Whatchu wanna eat, sugar? You can have anything you want."

Sophie stared at him for a moment, feeling overwhelmed, before lowering her head and speaking quietly.

"Umm... a bowl of gumbo and some french fries, please." She said, trying hard not to stumble over her words. It had been a long time since someone had been so friendly- and so _loud-_ around her, and she didn't quite know how to react.

It turned out he was named Jerry and his gumbo was _amazing._ Downright the best soup she had ever had.

The people were pretty nice, Sophie guessed, but she just wanted to get back out in the field. However, no new mission orders had been given to her.

Komui insisted on not letting her sleep much since it had turned out she had a concussion, so he came in and woke her every hour- when he was awake at least. Some days it was his assistant, a guy named Reever, who always looked exhausted, like she was beginning to feel.

Life at the Order was always interesting, though. She never knew what to expect. One day a trash- disposal robot went berserk and started torching things, then threw Sophie out a window.

 _That_ didn't help with her concussion, to say the least.

One day she was sitting on the floor and reading, her knees pulled up to her chest, by Komui's horrendously dirty desk, when it happened.

"There's a kid there! Shouldn't this place be impossible to find?"

"Someone go out there and push him off." Komui said with a sigh, taking a long drink of coffee.

"Hello?" Spoke the kid outside. "My name is Allen Walker, and I've come for an appointment with whoever is head here?"

Komui's eyes lit up and Sophronia knew that wasn't a good sign.

"Gatekeeper, scan him!"

Sophie looked at the boy on camera. He had longish white hair and silver gray eyes, one of which had a long scar down his face. One of his arms was all red- that must be where his Innocence was-

"HE'S OUT!" Wailed the gatekeeper suddenly. "THERE'S A PENTACLE ON HIS FOREHEAD! HE'S TEAMED UP WITH THE AKUMA TO KILL US ALLLLLLLLLLL!"

"Can someone-" Komui began, but was interrupted by a guy in a ponytail.

"I got it." He snarled, picking up his sword.

Sophie, bewildered by what was going on, watched all of the chaos silently.

On camera, Ponytail man was chasing down the kid with "the mark of the devil" on him as the Gatekeeper still wailed.

"No, wait!" Allen yelled, banging on the gatekeeper's chin. "I promise I'm human, I'm just curseeed!"

Sophie decided that it was worth giving him the benefit of the doubt. She passed her book to someone and smiled sweetly.

"Hold my page, please. I'm going to go try and save that idiot's life."

She walked out through the gate and looked around for Ponytail saw him running towards Allen, sword outstretched and she grinned.

At the last possible second she swung her activated blade innocence up under the hilt of his sword, locking them both in place.

"Let the guy talk _before_ you gut him like a fish, Ponytail." She said, turning and looking over at the kid. "Walker, right? I want you to explain."

"I can prove I'm human!" He blurted out quickly. "There was a letter sent by Master Cross to a guy named Komui-"

There was a burst of feedback from behind the gates.

"You! Search over there!"

A few moments later they were all invited back inside. Ponytail glared at Sophie.

"My name is Kanda." He snarled at her. "Don't call me Ponytail again if you want to live."

Sophie rolled her eyes and picked up her book from the person who had been holding it.

"Thank you for keeping my page. Now Ponytail and Walker, excuse me while I find out what happens to Beth March."

She walked away, her nose stuffed in _Little Women._ It was a lovely story, really.

And the two boys were mystified.


	4. Four-Sophie's First Mission

Four- Sophie's First Mission

A week passed, then two. A lot of strange things happened at The Black Order. People fought like savages one minute and then were sitting together and laughing the next. Sophronia couldn't wrap her mind around the things that went on.

The Cursed Boy and Ponytail went on a mission to the Land Forsaken by God- that is, Mater, and recovered an innocence there.

Later Sophie would lie awake at night, hearing the soft singing of a doll that had first been adored by and then repulsed humans. She wished she had met Lala before the doll broke. After all, Sophronia often found solace in her singing as well, mostly hymns from her father's religion.

Her days had just begun to move into one long, monotonous blur, when...

"Wilton, Walker!" Reever said, walking in to the room, "You're wanted in the command center."

Sophie stood hurriedly and headed out the door, gumbo in one hand, cornbread in her mouth, a glass of lemonade tucked in her elbow, and the now battered-looking _Little Women._

She walked to the command center, chewing on her cornbread and wondering why any of them would want her.

When she stepped inside Allen was there, some sort of sauce on his chin. Beside him was the exorcist of the black boots, Lenalee Lee.

"Hey, Sophronia." She was greeted. She smiled almost sheepishly around her last corner of the cornbread and swallowed it down hurriedly.

"Hi." She said quietly, sitting beside the female exorcist.

After their debriefing, Sophie felt a mixture of apprehension and excitement. To be going to investigate a report of a possible innocence there? This was big for her. All she had done before now was to help clean Komui's horribly filthy desk and the area surrounding it.

The town they were headed to was a town where the day had stayed the same for the past month. While it was November Eighth to Sophie, it was October Ninth to the people within the town. The phenomenon could have been caused by an innocence, so Allen and Sophie were being sent to investigate. Lenalee Lee was to be their guide. All would be routine, easy-peasy.

Then why did Sophronia feel so _un_ easy?

It wasn't as though she hadn't been in combat before. She fought akuma all the time without getting hurt- often.

But she felt as though something would happen on this trip.

Something life-changing and earth-shattering.

Little did Sophronia know she was right- her world would never be the same again.

And neither would poor Allen Walker's.

Sophie pushed down the feelings in her heart, looking forward to the sky. She _knew_ something would happen.

She would later wish that she had never gone on that mission, but it would also be her most treasured memory.

It was the trip on which she would meet her soulmate.

(Time skip brought to you by the authors inner Llama)

"I know you have it, girl! Tell us all about the innocence!" A voice hissed.

"I don't know what you're talking about! Please don't hurt me!" A woman sobbed in reply.

Sophie and Allen, lurking in the shadows, gave each other a nod.

Sophie dove out feet first, her skate-blades slicing neatly through the akuma's skin before Allen attacked with his left hand.

The terrified woman came to her senses then broke and ran away.

"I did it! I finally escaped "today"!"

Sophie froze, looking back at Allen as he dispatched the akuma and freed its trapped soul.

"Did you hear that? That woman knows about whats going on! We have to find her!"

"We need to report back to Lenalee first." He said with a sigh.

Sophie relaxed slightly, smiling sheepishly. "Right."

They got back to the inn they were staying at and told Lenalee the news.

"Well, its too late now." Lenalee had told them."But we'll start looking for her tomorrow. If she knows something about the town where time stays the same its time we see what she knows- before the akuma do."

The next day came quickly, and they were unsurprised to see it was still October Ninth. Sophie set out to look for the woman immediately, showing fliers around. "Would you please tell me who this woman is? She's a long-lost relative of mine and I would like to see her again."

Finally one of the children told her.

"Oh, thats Bad Luck-Miranda!"

Sophie blinked, looking down at the child.

"What a perfectly awful name to call a lady!"

The child bristled, staring at her.

"Well, its true! Miranda has the worst luck in town. She gets fired anywhere she tries for a job, guys won't look at her, she's a loser and a clutz- and she'll pass her bad luck onto _you_ if you get too close."

Then he pulled a face and ran away.

Sophronia repeated this new information back to Allen.

Hopefully their luck would be good and they would find this woman before the akuma did.

At dinnertime the three exorcists were chattering together calmly, their heads bowed as they ate in the diner.

Allen's fork clattered to the ground on accident before a gloomy, dismal voice spoke up.

"You dropped your fork, Allen."

The woman picked it up and gave it to him and there she was- bad luck Miranda!


	5. Five-Bad Luck Miranda

Five- Secret Of The Rewinding Town!

Sophronia, Allen, and Lenalee went back to Miranda's house to talk with her.

"So you know what's going on here?" Sophie asked, watching her.

Miranda nodded with a tentative smile.

"Its been "today" for thirty days. Oh, but I can dodge poop now."

 _What happens to this woman to make her so sad and odd?_

"Please," Miranda exclaimed, grabbing Allen's coat and bursting into tears,"You have to help me! I think I'll go insane if this goes on much longer!"

Sophie squeaked, edging back.

"Can you tell us about the day this all started?"

"Well, I was being overly nostalgic about my day because the number of times I had been fired had hit three digits... Actually I was drunk." She admitted, pointing to several empty wine bottles. "I was crying, and I said I wished tomorrow would never come."

From somewhere in the background Sophie heard a loud clock go off.

"What is that?" She asked, turning around.

"Oh, its my Grandfather Clock." Miranda said and stood, heading up the stairs. Then she told them another story: How no one ever thanked her. Everyone only thought she was useless. Then one day she had seen the Grandfather Clock in a store, broken. About to be thrown away. Something about that clock had spoken to her.

"You can try it." The store owner had said, handing her the sprig. Miranda had wound the clock, and to her amazement it had begun to toll.

The broken clock that hadn't worked for anyone tolled for the useless girl.

"Is it possible that there's an Innocence in this clock?" Allen whispered.

"Then..." Sophie began, leaving Lenalee to finish,

"Could Miranda be this Innocence's accomadator?"

They all turned to look at her and Miranda looked surprised- and amazed.

"You mean... something could have chosen _me?"_

Sophie watched Miranda, a pang rising in her chest. This case hit a bit too close to home- nobody had ever wanted her. Only her father had loved her. And then he had died-

NO.

She couldn't go down that road. If she did she would never stop. It would ruin her.

"So only Miranda can fix this." Sophie found herself murmuring.

"Miranda, try telling the clock to stop doing it." Allen ordered.

Miranda stared at the clock, gently touched the glass.

"Clock... please stop."

Nothing happened to the time.

"Maybe if we can make Miranda happy, the clock will stop doing what its doing."

And so their new quest began- to recover the innocence!


	6. Six- Beautiful Nightmare

Six- Beautiful Nightmare

When the three- or four?- exorcists returned to the house that night, they decided to finally try and get some sleep. Miranda crawled into her bed, passing out almost immediately.

"Sleep is my one escape." She had explained earlier, a sad little smile on her face. "In my dreams no one ever calls me useless."

Sophie took her time getting to bed, reluctant to really sleep. She took a brush to her hair and brushed slowly, the red locks growing staticky as she did so.

Lenalee sat on the bathtub behind her, the black boots forming to her calves.

"Sophie, you've been here for weeks and the only thing we know about you is your name. What exactly is your story?"

Sophie shrugged, trying to swallow the sudden feeling of pain rising in her throat. Her green eyes shimmered with some hidden emotion as she looked n the mirror.

"I'd rather not say." She whispered.

Lenalee stared at her for a moment before speaking softly.

"The Order found me when I was five and brought me to the European headquarters." She told Sophronia. "I hated every minute of it. I tried to run away, but they found me. One night when I was about seven, I woke up crying and Komui was there. He had worked every day for two years just to get to where we could be together."

Lenalee's voice was choked with emotion, and Sophronia guessed this was the first time she had told the story to anyone.

 _Now I have to tell her mine._ Sophie thought, staring in the mirror.

"Mom died when I was five, and Dad remarried right away. He was always on business; he couldn't be taking care of me. My Stepmom hated me and always found excuses to hurt me- but only when Dad was gone. She loved him and wanted him to think she loved me too. But when Dad died, she brought him back as an akuma... The akuma took over her. I killed them both, and I've been on the run ever since."

 _Lie. You were taken in at an orphanage for four years._

 _But you can't tell Lenalee, can you? Otherwise if you ever needed to go back to Her, the Order could track you down._

Sophie shrugged this off and headed past Allen into the room where they were all sleeping and sighed, rubbing her eyes.

Then she laid her head down on the makeshift bed and was almost instantly asleep.

 _She wore a beautiful emerald dress, and was dancing with her father. Her red curls spilled down her back, and her father gazed at her with an ever loving expression._

 _"I'm so proud of you, Sophie."_

 _"But I haven't done anything." Sophie protested._

 _"You haven't allowed the evil within to swallow you." Said Sophronia's father, his green eyes so much like hers._

 _"I'm not evil." Sophie found herself saying with a confused frown. Suddenly her father faded from view, that smile still etched on his disappearing face._

 _"Everyone is evil." Chirped a child's voice. Sophie looked down to find a little girl with white hair and piercing blue eyes. "They just don't know it. Are you coming?"_

 _"Coming where?" The redhead demanded, bewildered._

 _"Mama wants you, silly." The little girl said, holding out her hand. In the other hand was a marionette that held an eerie resemblance to Sophie._

 _At a loss of words, Sophie took the child's hand. She was led out onto a balcony where the sweet orchestra music still swelled._

 _"Green is a beautiful color on you." A voice commented._

 _Sophie looked across the room and her heart skipped a beat. There was a girl about her age with brown skin and spiky hair. Across her forehead was a line of stigmata. She wore a short white dress that was lowcut, with ripped black tights._

 _Sophronia had never seen the girl in her life. But at that moment, something inside of her cried out with recognition. She felt a horrible mixture of fear that she would be killed- and longing. Something inside her ached to be with this girl, this girl that radiated malice and evil and hatred who smiled so warmly at her._

 _"Who are you?" Sophie whispered, backing up._

 _"Me?" The girl asked with a childish giggle. "I'm either your sweetest dream... or your darkest nightmare."_

 _She walked forward slowly, something sharp and pointed in her hand, till her nose was touching Sophie's and their lips brushed when she talked._

 _"I might be the one who kills you."_

 _Then she gave a sweet smile, and raised the sharp point- a candle- and plunged it into Sophie's chest. With a horrible pang of agony, Sophie awoke._

 _She remembered nothing._


End file.
